How Much Time Should You Rest Between Sets To Gain Muscle Mass? (Big Brandon Carter)
Download my FREE workout and Nutrition plan BURNTHEFATFASTASHELL.COM All muscles are not created equal. When you lift heavy weights, your recruit your type II, or fast-twitch, muscle fibers. These fibers have the greatest potential for growth, and kick in when a task utilizes more than 25 percent of your maximum strength However, these fibers also fatigue the fastest. "With heavier weights, you target your nervous system more than with lighter weights," says Cosgrove. "This can take up to 5 times longer to recover." If you don't wait long enough when working these fibers, they won't train at their maximum ability during the next set. "Rest too short, and it becomes a cardio session," he says. "The load you can lift will decrease. " The HIGHER your repetitions and the LIGHTER the weights, the SHORTER your rest. Type I muscle fibers, also known as slow-twitch, offer endurance. They come into play during aerobic activities or when you lift lighter weights for higher reps. These fibers don't require as much energy to contract as type II, so you want to limit how much time you spend at the water fountain between sets. Why? "With higher reps, you rev your metabolism. If you wait too long, you'll undo this effect," Cosgrove says. So how do you figure out the right amount of time? Don't sacrifice results because you didn't pay attention to your stopwatch. Here's what Cosgrove recommends: If you hit failure at 1 to 3 reps: Rest for to 5 minutes If you hit failure at 4 to 7 reps: Rest for 2 to 3 minutes If you hit failure at 8 to 12 reps: Rest for 1 to 2 minutes If you hit failure at 13 reps or more: Rest for 30 secs to 1 minute Remember, these numbers are just guidelines for resting a muscle group before you work it again. If you want, you can work other muscle groups while you wait. You'll save time without sacrificing performance. For instance, try a circuit routine—three or more exercises in succession without little or no rest between sets. Interested? Here's the latest Men's Health circuit routine, the new Spartacus workout. You can also do alternating sets. This is when you pair exercises that work opposite muscle groups (or upper-body and lower-body moves) and cut the rest period between sets in half. So, instead of waiting 2 minutes between sets of bicep curls, you can perform one set of the bicep curl, rest for only 1 minute, and then do a triceps dip Download my FREE workout and Nutrition plan BURNTHEFATFASTASHELL.COM How to get ripped abs fast! With THE HIGH LIFE WORKOUT PLAN Learn how to Burn Fat, Build Muscle and get ripped abs and a six pack FAST! with THE HIGH LIFE WORKOUT PLAN When you Download the THE HIGH LIFE WORKOUT PLAN you get FREE WORKOUT VIDEOS (that you can put on you iPod!) and the FREE fitness and nutrition ebook The Ultimate Fitness Manual you will show you: How you can workout LESS and get better results! How to Drastically reduce your body fat and transform your entire body in as little as 6 Weeks! How you can lose more fat by eating MORE FOOD! And much more! When you register, you will instantly receive an email that will provide you with access to download THE HIGH LIFE WORKOUT PLAN! click here to download for FREE BURNTHEFATFASTASHELL.COM
